Designing With Roses Tony Lord
Impressionist's Roses Dereck Fell
The Romantic Garden Graham Rose

This is not a roses-in-particular book, but inpiring none the less, and some fantastic "new" perspectives in design:

"Plant-Driven Design: Creating Gardens That Honor Plants, Place and Spirit" by Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden

Any book on any garden topic by Graham Thomas. His rose books are what got me hooked on rose gardening in the first place. I have decided that the reason is that, in addition to being an expert, and a talented artist, the man is/was a poet. The language is exquisite, and his books manage to relay his love of plants & garden design in a way that is contagious.

Jackie

When designing my garden, I was enthralled by "Tasha Tudor's Garden" by Tovah Martin. It's not primarily a rose book, but Tasha loved all romantic flowers, including old roses. I learned of Tasha through the corgis I have and couldn't help but be charmed by the way she lived a 19th century life in a 20th century world. Her gardens are just like her - strong, whimsical, old fashioned, opulent. The photos in the book are stunning and go season by season through her fantastic gardens.

Of course, they enabled me in many ways, mostly to push the zones and try some of her favorite plants. Her New England climate couldn't be more different than my California one, but I do have some touches of Tasha in my garden, as well as the ever present corgis.

Debbie

THE IMPRESSIONIST GARDEN by Dereck Fell (better garden plans than Impressionist Roses; epitomizes my personal garden style)
THE ROMANTIC GARDEN by Graham Rose

THE COTTAGE GARDEN by Christopher Lloyd
COTTAGE GARDENS by Philip Edinger (cheap paperback but excellent garden plans, especially small gardens)
ENGLISH COTTAGE GARDENING FOR AMERICAN GARDENS by Margaret Hensel and Tasha Tuder
TASHA TUDER'S GARDEN by Tovah Martin (no garden plans but plenty of inspiration)
COUNTRY LIVING COTTAGE GARDENS by Toby Musgrave
PLEASURES OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN by Rand Lee
ROSEMARY VEREY'S GARDEN PLANS by Rosemary Verey
THEME GARDENS by Barbara Damrosch (has an incredible plan for A Garden of Old Roses)

That should get you started. Sorry but I don't use gardening programs. Somehow seems like cheating. Gardening is as much an ancient art as it is a hobby.

Best wishes,

Patrick

I am loving this thread! I just bought some new books and am always looking for more.

But my very favorite, and the one that I keep around me always (it is very well worn) is:

The Art of the Formal Garden by Arend Jan Van Der Host. I have the paperback and just looking at the front of the book inspires me. (The hardcover has a different picture on front.)

If your style is not formal, you may not like it, but I can not resist a clipped hedge! :)

I don't have a particular book(s). I look at everything. I've been inspired by movies and ads. Ultimately, the design is about whoyou are: your fantasies, you lifestyle, memories, if you have pets, children, wildlife, if you are very active, introverted or extroverted. When I put in a real garden for someone, as opposed to just landscaping the yard, I ask them lots and lots of questions.

Basically, a garden is a journey. It has a beginning, sights to see, adventures, discoveries, detours, destinations. But how do you like to travel. Are you well organized, dislike the unexpected. Do you just buy a ticket and go and see what happens. Is it a journey back to good memories, to visit friends? When we look at pictures, what appeals to us is the answer to those questions.

I love climbing roses! I got a book from our local library titled "Climbing Roses of the World" by
Charles Quest-Ritson. The book contains an incredible wealth of information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Climbing Roses of the World (Hardcover)

A book I like, if only because it helped me see that I needed to expand my garden into the front areas, is a book called FRONT YARD GARDENS by Liz Primeau.

LANDSCAPING WTIH ROSES by Jeff Cox is helpful. And I enjoy Stephen Scanniello's books. His book CLIMBING ROSES taught me how to prune New Dawn.

Mike Shoup's books, LANDSCAPING WITH ANTIQUE ROSES and ROSES IN THE SOUTHERN GARDEN were two I started with that first opened my eyes to the world of old roses, so those will always be favorites.

And beyond the books that cause rose porn salivation are authors like Elizabeth Lawrence and Henry Mitchell, those whose writing ability or knowledge have taught me that gardening is about perseverance.

I forgot to mention this book: Chelsea Gold. This is a book of winning gardens from the Chelsea Flower show. They are so creative and inspiring, especially for folks with small spaces.

Hi catsrose,

Your post is beautifully articulated. I told PapaRoseMan yesterday that Climbing roses are dear to me because they represent my journey through life. Hailing from a different country...immigration to the USA...pride in becoming a US citizen...my spirit...who I am...

CLIMBING GARDENS: ADDING HEIGHT AND STRUCTURE TO YOUR GARDEN by Joan Clifton is another good book.

I'm glad catsrose was brave enough not to recommend landscaping books. Some of us use them, some of us don't. I myself generally either look at pictures--many books have marvelous pictures--or I read unillustrated text. I know I've said this before, probably ad nauseam, but the most useful thing I've ever read on garden design is pp. 69-81 of The Essential Earthman by Henry Mitchell. Everything I ever learned I got from Henry Mitchell anyway, but those few pages are my primer, the fistful of principles of design with which I go out and create a world.

That being said, I'm taking note of the books listed here and, when I get a chance, I'll be going shopping. I've noticed that The Romantic Garden gets cited frequently, and it has aroused my curiosity, even though, or perhaps even because I don't consider myself one of the romantics. My garden isn't formal, either, but formality does exercise a certain pull on me, and so I've also noted holleygarden's The Art of the Formal Garden. Thanks for the suggestions!

Elizabeth Lawrence is frequently cited as a good gardening author, and the first book by her that I read, Gardening for Love, confirms that in full. I would particularly recommend her for gardeners in the southeast. Another delightful book, which, unusually in my experience, has equally valuable text and photos, is The Englishman's Garden by Alvilde Lees-Milne and Rosemary Verey. It derives its charm as well as much of its usefulness from the text having been written by the gardeners whose gardens are portrayed in the book. This is a middle-aged (1982) book I received as a gift. I understand it was preceded by The Englishwoman's Garden, in the same format.

Melissa

Rambling about to commence...

I like many of the books already listed and I see some that I'll have to get hold of.

'Pleasures of the Cottage Garden' by Rand Lee is a fun book, because he has these exercises where you make these different lists and then narrow down to some elements you really want in the garden.

I too liked 'Front Yard Gardens' by Liz Primeau. It profiled so many gardens and the pictures gave you the long view showing the house. Got it from the library, perhaps I should buy a copy.

'Roses in Modern Gardens' by Sally Court- She's a landscape designer and definitely the book is from a designing perspective. There are contemporary, formal, mixed borders, cottage photographs from gardens around the world. Some are quite grand though.

Some more landscape type books I liked...
'Taylor's Guide to Landscaping'
'Organic Garden Design School' by Ann Lovejoy
'Plant Driven Design' by Lauren Springer and Scott Ogden

I think a Landscape Design textbook is very helpful too. I found one at the thrift store for a buck called 'Landscaping Your Home' by William R. Nelson Jr. It was quite good. None of the pretty bookstore books quite cover all of the nitty gritty principles. I'd like to find more but I balk at the textbook prices.

My sister and I took a 8 week short course from the Univ. here that was fun. We drew plans and at the end of the class Landscape Architects came and looked over and gave advice on our plans.

Some random thoughts...
Choose and site your trees very carefully. Don't plant just the cheap thing over at the home depot. Ask me how I know.

Plan for places to be out in the garden, not just to look at. Adding lots of places to sit was one of the best things I did. My ideas gel better when I sit in the garden and just look.

Sorry it's so long.

For the Photography:
"Roses in the Southern Garden" - by Mike Shoup
This book showed me how to do it, in photography, with well-proven roses and companion plants that are well-adapted to my climate.

For the experience and thoughts shared in text:
"The Organic Rose Garden" - by Liz Druit
This book told me how to garden with roses and companion plants in a manner that is consistent with a well-balanced environment that is alive in every way. It is well written text that I enjoy reading again and again. Her thoughts on companion planting and organic methods of soil building and maintenance are especially appreciated.

Off topic: Not a landscaping book at all, but I just ordered "100 Old Roses for the American Garden" by Clair Martin. Looking forward to receiving it, as I have enjoyed his comments on roses in his other writings very much.

Randy

"The Organic Rose Garden" - by Liz Druit should be renamed The Organic TEXAS Rose Garden. Don't get me wrong. It is a wonderful book (just make sure to get the hardcover as info is missing in the paperback), but some of the cultivars she recommends are absolute black spot disasters in the Mid-Atlantic, which includes Virginia.

I hate it when I think I have to go back and explain what I meant because I said it so badly.

What I referred to so crudely as "rose porn salivation" are the millions of books, magazine articles, and internet photos that cause us to immediately desire our yard or gardens to look like what we see. Like the home and garden tv shows that show instant perfection in a 23 minute segment.

Landscaping my home has been a journey of dealing with tree roots, clay soil, more tree roots, shade, insects, trees falling, windstorms, drought, too much rain, disease, did I say tree roots?, poison ivy, bad drainage,late freezes and weeds.

None of it comes quickly but every year my garden is more what I want it to be, and I love the process of seeing our spot of home become a garden.

I like the books with the pictures and advice, but I more appreciate those authors who encourage me by their wisdom and knowledge to persevere and enjoy the process of creating beauty.

I have a couple of Henry Mitchell books and they are wonderful. His rule of not to bring home a new plant if he's left a bunch of work to do in the garden is a good one (I need to find the exact quote). I still have yet to follow it, but I know I'd be less stressed if I did.

'Roses in the Southern Garden' by Mike Shoup is my idea of a perfect rose book, if only it were four times longer or in multiple volumes. Though it's only a list book, describing varieties, each variety has 2 or 3 pictures along with it. In addition to some closeups, tons of long views of the roses in gardens. Every photograph in that book tells a story. I'm not even in the south and probably a third of the roses wouldn't be hardy here, but the book still has a lot of inspiration I can use.

It's easy to forget that Landscaping itself is an art when you look at some of the seemingly uninspired assortment of shrub landscapes. That seems so boring to a worshiper of the queen of flowers. But landscaping is about using the principles of design like balance, unity, emphasis- aren't those artistic terms? It's helpful to have a plan before we dig up the next patch of lawn, and to think about the why and how it will interact with the garden as a whole.

Some people are naturals at designing their gardens, but I am not. I grab this plant and that because it's oh so pretty and then have to try and figure out where to put it. Learning to see- something that's talked about on the Landscape forum, is a process for me.

Here are some regional books that have helped me...

'Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West' by Marcia Tatroe (my absolute favorite)
'The Undaunted Garden' by Lauren Springer
'Passionate Gardening' by Lauren Springer and Rob Proctor
'Xeriscape Handbook' by Gayle Weinstein (This was the one recommended in the class I took because of the sections on assessing the site and making a plan)
'Landscaping on the New Frontier-Waterwise design for the Intermountain West ' by Susan Meyer and others
(excellent illustrations and how to draw a plan info- definite native bent)

Vettin- the above list might not help you specifically, but I thought I might include it for others who may be reading. You might find some regional books too.

Winter seems very long round these parts and there's plenty of time for reading. Nuggets of Inspiration can be had from many books. No book has to be treated like a bible- well except maybe The Bible. : )

I love looking at rose books for the pictures of beautiful roses and the information about roses I'm interested in, but have not found a single book that specifically is written for a dry Southern California garden with antique and Austen and shrub roses, with wonderful garden pictures of roses with drought-tolerant plants as companions, and information about how best to achieve this and specifically what to plant. The closest I've come to inspiration is Cass's garden on HMFR. I understand there would be a very small audience for a book with such a small focus but there's no reason why areas with similar Mediterranean climates could not also be included. Maurizio's garden is an excellent example of what such a garden should be and could proudly be featured in any book. My garden could be featured as an example of what not to do with a few pictures of what I'm gradually learning to do right. If anyone knows of a book along these lines I'd be thrilled to know the name.

Ingrid

Ingrid, maybe that's one you should write?

duchesse, how sweet of you to say that. A book is a tremendous commitment in time and effort, and I value my peaceful existence too much to embark on such an undertaking. Most importantly, my store of knowledge is still so limited, I could never do justice to such a book.

Ingrid